10/02/2016

The Happiness Tree - Not Just a Pretty Name, A System for Cultivating Success In Life

Happiness need not be a mysterious, elusive condition. The chart above demonstrates that happiness results from a full, holistic life and that this can be achieved by working independently and simultaneously on the macro and finite areas of Love, Health, Freedom and Purpose.

The Happiness Tree is a way of visualizing the anatomy of happiness as one would view a family tree, to understand how each component is related to the whole. Just as science has mapped the human genome to understand the very code that supports life itself, it stands to reason that Happiness (a condition so fundamental to the human experience that it is synonymous with “quality of life”) can also be broken down into its elemental parts and then reassembled into a system for understanding and creating a successful life.

It took me 3 years of introspection, deconstructing my own struggles with sustaining satisfaction in my work, relationships and life, coupled with research into the many emotional, physical and spiritual factors that influence how we view, respond to and evolve from our life experiences, to arrive at this deep understanding of the ways in which we, and our life experiences, co-create each other.

It turns out how those experiences are guided, crafted and responded to is of critical importance to our personal evolution and level of satisfaction.

This led me to the realization that the four limbs of Love, Health, Freedom and Purpose could be viewed as the robust structural members of our lives, like the columns of a cathedral, the piers of a bridge or the limbs of a tree. I chose a tree because it is a living, evolving entity that is rooted to the ground and yet reaches for the clouds. A quality I believe represents the need-in our human lives-for a healthy balance between practicality and imagination.

Additionally, like human life, a tree has a complex structure, reaching in many directions, with an intricate interplay between major and finite elements. With limbs defining our core, I could see that branches would perfectly illustrate the many ways Love, Health. Freedom and Purpose are expressed and experienced in our lives.

Finally, leaves, the most delicate components of a tree reach out to receive sunlight. They are kissed by the rain and cooled by the breeze. They provide nutrients for and are simultaneously supported by the whole system. It is through these thousands of delicate wonders that we-as humans-metaphorically connect with the world around us.

And just aa a tree must be properly fed, pruned and cared for, our lives also require ongoing maintenance and attention. And a healthy tree, just like your healthy life, develops a well-rounded canopy: balanced, comfortable in its niche and a joy to behold.

Please feel free to copy and save the Happiness Tree chart to study and share.

And for a complete description of how to understand and apply this revolutionary system in your own life, read "The Happiness Tree". Now available in paperback and e-book format from all fine online book retailers.

Random Samples to Get You Started

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What is The Happiness Tree?

This blog and its companion
book are a direct challenge to the preconceived notions,
fears, biases and flawed approaches that hold many of us back from
success in relationships, work, creativity and most importantly, life
satisfaction.

Like many of you, from my
adolescent years, I was seeking guidance to
help me understand the complex interplay between myself and the world
at large: A sort of “Life Manual”. I would peruse book stores and act
on recommendations by friends and respected “gurus”, and never found a
book, program or methodology that connected all the dots.

I’d read one book about
Spirituality, and another about Self Esteem.
Yet another about The Creative Process followed by a treatise on
Relationships. Each book seemed to partially address one piece of the
puzzle, but not how that element fit into or coordinated with all the
others.
Then at a dark, pivotal point in my mid-life, I felt the need for just
such a paradigm shift. A complete overhaul of my belief systems and a
new scaffolding upon which to construct my future. I was sure that in
the new frontier of the internet, I’d be able to find just the right
message, delivered just the right way that would provide me that “Aha
moment” I so desperately desired. But alas, I found only bits and
pieces, not a cohesive, holistic approach to creating sustainable
happiness.

So, I built
it myself.

One of the pearls of wisdom
that stuck with me during my many years of
searching, was that ‘all the tools and information we need to create a
productive, happy life, are already inside of us’. This made sense to
me. Though not a religious person, I have always believed that we were
brought
into this life to fulfill a purpose. And if that was so, then it would
stand to reason that we’d be provided the skills necessary to manifest
that purpose or at least the means to acquire them. From that
perspective, our challenge then, from the moment we’re born, (or some
would say, even before that), is to discover our mission, then develop
the energy, passion and abilities to fulfill it.

Along the way though, most of
us get bogged down in the details. To use
a driving metaphor, we head off perhaps in the right direction and then
hit a pothole. Our vehicle becomes temporarily disabled and so we hitch
a ride and become a passenger on someone else’s journey. Through
detours and switchbacks, we may
spend years retracing our steps in an effort
to regain the momentum of those earlier times. Along the way,
circumstance or destiny places what feels like insurmountable barriers
in our path,
causing us to rethink our entire rai·son d'ê·tre.

This is usually when the pivot
happens. When our belief systems
collapse, leaving us feeling incapable of addressing even the simplest
task, for lack of confidence in our own abilities or the very
righteousness of humanity. I built The Happiness Tree for this critical
juncture in my own life and by extension, to help you through yours.

This system is named The
Happiness Tree, for a reason. By following its
intuitive structure: Roots; Trunk; Limbs and Branches, we begin to
organize the seemingly complex interplay between ourselves and others,
into a visual framework, allowing us to step back for the first time
and see the entire global connections that make up our lives. From this
vantage point, areas that are weak or unbalanced are revealed. We are
then guided toward achieving a broader and more effective
distribution of our time, energy, talents, passions and goals through
the implementation of practical, common sense strategies. Branch, by
branch we begin to fill out our own unique tree, from top to bottom,
enhancing our confidence, relationships, creativity, purpose and
ultimately, our life satisfaction and happiness.

Let "The
Happiness Tree" support you on your quest to achieve the life
you’ve always dreamed of. Just read, absorb, practice. evolve and
become the manifestation of Joy in your own life and that of those you
love.